Primary care boss resigns

THE woman who steered the health service body in charge of GPs and community health through its first three years is to step down.

Penny Henrion, who chairs Reading Primary Care Trust (PCT), was asked to stay on by the NHS Appointments Commission but reluctantly declined for "family and personal reasons".

She has also been director of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers Service in Reading for the last nine years and will continue with that work.

Mother-of-two Ms Henrion said she had to make a decision about her family and her work-life balance.

She began her career as a French teacher then worked in adult education and community arts. She then moved into the voluntary sector in 1983,

working on a range of projects with elderly people.

Ms Henrion, 55, is on the national policy body of the Princess Royal Trust and hopes she will be able to maintain links with the NHS in future.

She said: "It has been a hard decision to make but one I feel is right for me at this moment in time. I have really enjoyed the last three years at the PCT.

"Throughout this time I have never failed to be impressed by the commitment and dedication of staff and primary care colleagues and have the greatest respect for their continued efforts to make a difference to the health and well-being of local people.

"I shall look back on my time as chair with very fond and proud memories.

"The PCT has achieved so much in the short space of time that it has been around and I look forward to watching it go from strength to strength."

Mrs Henrion admitted to being disappointed when

the PCT failed to gain any stars in the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI)

performance ratings last year.

She said: "It was a disappointment but I don't think the star ratings tell the whole story.

"The PCT had a CHI report last year, which is a much more detailed assessment - more like an Ofsted report - and we did extremely well in that.

"The CHI people were with us for several weeks and had a far better impression of our work than the snapshot view of statistics that the star ratings are based on."

Ms Henrion has stamped her style on meetings over her three years in the chair.

As a lifelong Buddhist, her calm approach has sought to achieve consensus instead of confrontation. She has also championed diversity and equality.

Chief executive of the Reading PCT Janet Fitzgerald said: "I will be sorry to see Penny go but fully understand her reason for wanting to step down.

"She has made a huge contribution to the PCT and has brought to the trust a strong sense of partnership working.

"Her focus on community and patient involvement has been invaluable over the years and she will be very much missed by colleagues in health and the wider community."

Ms Henrion's resignation takes effect from the end of March.

+ This is the second high-profile resignation by a leading figure in the NHS in Reading in two weeks.

Last week Suzanne Goodband resigned as chief executive of Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals' NHS Trust after less than eight months.

She stepped down with immediate effect with no real explanation for her departure.

It was revealed this week that Ms Goodband left her job as chief executive of the Northampton Community Healthcare Trust seven years ago in similar circumstances.

Ms Goodband resigned after 20 months for "personal and professional reasons".

A spokeswoman for the new trust that succeeded the Northampton Community Healthcare Trust said Ms Goodband did not work out a period of notice but provided one month's handover.